Buck Harvey: Mahinmi remains a Texan, a project

DALLAS — Ian Mahinmi has come a long way. From France to the Austin Toros to the place he stood Sunday night.

At the free-throw line? Of the NBA Finals?

The camera caught his reaction. He grinned.

Still, going by what he did in his few minutes, Game 3 suggests the distance he’s come can be measured with a Texas road map. He’s in the same state he’s always been in, which is why he made a mistake last summer.

He shouldn’t have gone from one Texas playoff team to another.

He should have gone where he could have played more.

Mahinmi shows no such regret now. The optimistic personality that endeared him to the Spurs is still in place. If anything, he feels more comfortable with his second NBA team.

Since early December, when he thought the Mavericks needed some life, he continues to preface every game with a primal scream in the huddle. In San Antonio, only Gregg Popovich ever did that.

Sunday deserved Mahinmi’s best scream. Once drafted by the Spurs who had just finished a Finals, he now was getting to play in one himself. With Brendan Haywood out Sunday with a strained right hip flexor, Mahinmi had a few moments.

He smartly took a charge from Udonis Haslem, and his relaxed attitude at the foul line worked for him. Then, at the end of a tight third quarter, he made his free throws.

Even after LeBron James went up over him, dunking with the kind of force that turned into an ESPN replay, Mahinmi reacted as if he was having the time of his life.

Did he think he had a chance at the block?

“Oh, I was late,” he smiled Monday.

So what if he had become a prominent part of another LeBron poster? Mahinmi had been on the court, in the NBA Finals, challenging the best in the world.

Still, that is also the approach of a novice. Mahinmi committed five fouls in eight minutes, looking like the raw talent who the Spurs first scouted.

“I thought Mahinmi’s energy was good,” Rick Carlisle said Sunday night. “At times maybe a little too energetic. But that was expected.”

The Spurs likely expected it, too. They had drafted Mahinmi in 2005 knowing it would take time for him to learn what to do with his size and athletic ability.

But what injuries didn’t delay, the program he was on did. Mahinmi never had the kind of step-by-step competition that builds instincts. Everything was a drill, every lesson an instruction.

He needed to play, and the Spurs couldn’t give him that. But when they let him go, the Mavericks were there to gamble on the same potential. They quickly offered Mahinmi a 2-year deal, and maybe he saw an opening on the roster.

On the very day his signing with Dallas became official, however, the Mavericks traded for Tyson Chandler. With Haywood already there, Mahinmi would be third-team at best.

He got some time early this season, partly because Haywood sulked when Chandler became the starter. Mahinmi had a double-double in December against Golden State and a 17-point night against Memphis. But mostly he was what he had been with the Spurs.

The telling stat: He played more minutes for the Spurs in the postseason last year than he has for the Mavericks in this long playoff run.

But what if he had signed with, say, Golden State? Or Cleveland? What if he had gotten 20 minutes a night, or at least a solid spot in a rotation?